It’s been almost a month since newly wikified Chesley B. Sullenberger III (one of the guys in the attached photo, don’t mind which) executed a perfect duck dive. And unless cross-haired by a man in a tweedy peaked cap, ducks always end up bobbing right side up …

It’s been almost a month since newly wikified Chesley B. Sullenberger III (one of the guys in the attached photo, don’t mind which) executed a perfect duck dive. And unless cross-haired by a man in a tweedy peaked cap, ducks always end up bobbing right side up …

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The media have been harping on and on – and on – about it. After the third day I started getting flustered with the repetition – the pilot made a safe water landing. Isn’t that why they get paid the big bucks? Isn’t that what the laminated seat pocket card is all about?

After the third week and now talk show appearances, I’m only just starting to understand why it’s still headline news: in a recession like this, good news is grrrrrreat news.

This is opposite to normal mass media conditioning. We’re bludgeoned into believing that bad news isn’t just good news, it’s the only news. Recession, Madoff, Gaza …

Now that the media is as full as an egg of bad news, could it be resorting to shocking us with … good news?

Is this the Obama effect? Even before he plonked himself down in the chair, his conciliatory manner, “kind eyes” and at least verbal commitment to change bathed us in a wide ray of hope. And change … who hasn’t noticed an increase in black actors and newsreaders*?

As usual, the media can’t help itself. When it’s not delivering bad news, it’s trying to keep churlishness at bay:

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“A woman in a fur coat asked another passenger if he’d go back into the slowly sinking plane and get her purse.”

Oooooh! What if that fur was as fake as the vest I got at a TK Maxx blowout?

I’d like to be a video-toting fly on aircraft cabin walls right now, recording how many laminated seat pocket cards are being pulled out, studied intently, studied some more, even before butts hit seats and overhead locker fights break out. For once, it will be read more than the SkyMall catalog with its pet iguana ottoman for $39.95 plus shipping …

* I say “black” with intent – the last three times I said “African American” I was told, “But I’m Jamaican”

About the author

Lynette Chiang is an award-winning copywriter, brand evangelist, social media community manager, filmmaker, solo world bicycle adventurer and inventor of useful things. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Harvard University curriculums, the New York Times Book Review, FastCompany and the relationship marketing business press.